Colorado & Denver News

by Raj Chohan
DENVER (CBS4) ― Reality Check is the name of a new set of special reports by CBS4 reporter Raj Chohan.

In the Aug. 25 Reality Check, Chohan analyzed the new "Both Ways Bob" attack ads against Bob Beauprez. His complete notes on the report lie below.

Reporter notes and sources:

This is the second "Both Ways Bob" ad we looked from the Washington D.C. based 527 group Citizens for Progress. The ad attacks Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez.

Read more on what a 527 is and who's behind Citizens for Progress. Also, Check out the IRS filing regarding donors to "Citizens for Progress."

Below are links to open secrets pages on 527s. What are they? How do they work?
What are they?
How do they work?

Let's take a look at the ad:

AD STARTS
In Colorado, Bob Beauprez says he's for health care. But in Washington, Congressman Beauprez sided with the insurance companies to allow them to stop covering women with breast cancer. No wonder they call him "Both Ways Bob".

Commentary:
The legislation in question is H.R. 660 which passed out of the House in 2003, but never got a vote in the Senate. Similar versions have come up since then, but none have passed into law. The legislation would have created Association Health Plans. These are groups of small businesses, pooled together across state lines. the AHP's would have used their combined buying power to leverage lower cost insurance for their employees. According to a report by the Congressional Budget Office, the AHP legislation would have provided health insurance to approximately 600,000 people who don't currently have it. For more information, read the CBO report on H.R. 660.

But critics argue H.R. 660 had some considerable down sides. It would allow AHP's to bypass many state regulations mandating what kinds of insurance coverage companies must carry. This means some plans could have chosen not to cover preventive cancer screening tests like mammographies, diabetic screening, or treatments deemed effective but still considered experimental. Here's a link to the American Cancer Society Web site.

So the criticism from groups like the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Academy of Pediatrics to legislation that would enact AHP's is what "Citizens for Progress" relies on to make the claims in this ad. But the ad is mistaken in its suggestion that Beauprez sided with the insurance industry. I spoke with Mohit Ghose (V.P. of Public affairs for AHIP): AHIP represents the major insurance companies in the the country. He says the Insurance industry has never supported AHP legislation, and that The ad attacking Beauprez as far as its claim that Beauprez "sided with the insurance companies...." is false.

Below are links to critical commentary from the Health Insurance Industry about AHP's:
The Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors
America's Health Insurance Plans

But small business groups say its the power to avoid the tangle of state regulations that would give AHP's the competitive leverage to provide lower cost insurance to their members.

Below are some other links from small business groups that support AHP's:
National Association of Realtors
Small Business Health Plans

So the ad's claim that Beauprez sided with the insurance companies on H.R. 660, is false. But the claim that Beauprez voted for a bill that could have allowed certain plans within the AHP structure to drop coverage of cancer screening services like mammograms, is true. However the intent of the bill seems to have been to aid small businesses in their efforts to provide affordable health care insurance to the many employees who are under insured or not insured.

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